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tv   Erin Burnett Out Front  CNN  December 20, 2012 4:00pm-5:00pm PST

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come together around all victims of violence. >> there was a group of students that had traveled from florida, i believe they drove overnight to get up to sandy hook and they appeared at the memorial site and just started playing and singing. ♪ >> i feel your pain, i understand you're grieving. we are here for you. "outfront" next, the latest on the investigation in newtown. plus we have some new details tonight about adam lanza.
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and inside the mind of a killer. tonight we talked to a doctor who has studied the brains of murderers for decades and has said he has found a very specific pattern. and lawmakers tonight voting on a solution to avoid the fiscal cliff. does this solution mean anything? let's go "outfront." good evening, everyone. "outfront" tonight, a new phase in the newtown, couldn't could not shooting investigation. we are also learning some new details about adam lanza. the 20-year-old gunman behind last week's or ifg elementary school shooting. this is the small community tries to heal and makes sense of what has happened not even one week ago. there were six funerals today. three of them were for first graders. allison wyatt, benjamin wheeler and catherine hubbard.
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family and friends said goodbye to substitute teacher lauren russeau, anne marie murphy and principal dawn hochsprung. all have been hailed as heroes for trying to protect their students. i remember hearing lauren's boyfriend saying they had just celebrated their one-year anniversary and he thought that relationship was forever. deborah, let me start by ask go you, what is this new phase that the investigation is entering into? >> reporter: what it is, it is all about motive, motive, motive. investigators are trying to figure out why he did what he did. and adam lanza took very great pains to get rid of virtually the brunt of the evidence which was the computer, smashing it to bits. destroying the hard drive. what we can tell you is that investigators were here at the home for the last couple of days. today they walked the grounds. they were outside, walking the perimeter. they went through the outside as thoroughly as the inside getting their hands on everything they
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cox cell phone records, documents, files, any sort of video game that may have been inside the house. all of that they were trying to piece together. they pulled out about lunch time today. we spoke to the lieutenant in charge of all this. he speaks right now, for the time being, they are done for now. that means they've gone through this house with a fine tooth comb. if there is reason to come back to the home, they'll do that. right now they do feel that they've got as much evidence as they're probably going to get. if something comes up later on, something they didn't think about, they were return. this house is still theirs. it is still a crime scene. it has not been released. right now as far as an onscene presence, they're gone. the crime lab pulling out just before lunch. >> i know that the shooter's mother, nancy lanza, was also buried today. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: what's so interesting about it, she was the first victim. she had returned to this house. she had been away about three days. she came to this house. investigators believe she was
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shot in the head early friday morning. the first victim. she was buried at an undisclosed location. we're told in kingston, new hampshire. that's where she grew up. that's where she was from. it was a very private service. the gunman, her son was not buried with her. it is not clear whether the body will be released or whether they will want to hang on to it to do further tests about what was going on. you talked about asperger's. the investigation about whether he had some underlying psychiatric disorder that they're testing. nancy lanza knew her son was getting older. he was 20 years old. she was trying to find out what he would do for the next stage of his life. and there's new information that she had even considered possibly putting him in the army. maybe cryptology because he was so intelligent. she thought maybe that was a way to harness his intelligence. she wasn't shirking her responsibilities. she just needed to figure out what to do with her son now that he was getting older. >> thank you very much.
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and deb referring to adam lanza and the fact that he may have been interested in joining the military. obviously this is of high interest to everyone who wants to understand what happened here and why. now, apparently, adam lanza made his interests known in 2009 when he was 17 years old. that's just around the time he stopped taking classes at western connecticut state university. now, this is according to the connecticut post which first broke the story and has this latest development on adam lanza's interest in the military. maryanne, thank you for taking the time of i can you spoke to one of nancy lanza's good friends. she told you adam was interested in joining the military. what was about it the military that made him interested? >> reporter: i think he had, what we're piecing together from ellen and other sources is that he had a fascination for a long ways back with things
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military-related. military equipment. he was a very, very bright young man. and when he first expressed that interest which was around the time he was ending his course work at western connecticut state university, initially his mother was very supportive of the idea and that's what several sources have told me. she was initially very supportive of it because it would have given him organization, structure, a career path even. and he was a very, very bright person. but as time wore on and she thought about it more and what she knew about her son, she realized this might not be the best path for him. >> why did she change her mind?
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did she tell your sources, ellen or others why it was she suddenly thought this isn't good for him? >> reporter: yeah. for a long time, adam, one of the things he had going on was sort of a phobia about being touched and having physical contact with other people. in his high school, when people would inadvertently, you know, make contact, it was a very uncomfortable feeling for him. and you know, she explained, you know, they had a very close mother/son relationship and it was over time that she expressed her misgivings about him going into the military, the marines or any other branch. not because he wasn't smart enough or anything like that but because of those issues with
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physical contact. and that was -- >> did that cause a lot of tension in their relationship when she said that to him? did he react with frustration or anger? >> reporter: what i'm gathering from some of the other sources i've spoken to, that it was more disappointment and uncertainty about what else he might do. >> and what can you tell us about nancy's relationship with adam in the past year? i know your interest went back before that when he was finishing classes at western connecticut. what about the past year? was there tension? were there any issues she talked about with friends? >> reporter: she was actually more comfortable with going on vacations, going on short trips, leaving him home alone. he was essentially a homebody.
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and he was developing interests, other interests of his own, doing some computer repair work, even just going out grocery shopping on his own. he -- unknown places, unknown environments had for a long time made him really uncomfortable. but they had reached a point where she was comfortable going away for a couple of days here, a couple of days there and that he was okay. >> all right. thank you very much. from that reporting that adam lanza had been interested in joining the military, whether it be the army or the marines. and also, very interesting there that he had done computer repair work, according to marian's reporting. obviously interesting that he had done such a seemingly thorough job in destroying his own hard drives before he committed the horrible act. "outfront" next, the vice president has vowed to take
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action on guns. talking about action and actually taking action are two different things. will they be this time? plus a massive snowstorm is slamming the midwest creating a massive travel problem right before the christmas holiday. and a vote later this hour on capitol hill to try to aroid the fiscal cliff at the 11th hour. does the plan add up? searching for a bank designed for investors like you? tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 schwab bank was built with all the value and convenience tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 investors want. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like no atm fees, worldwide. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and no nuisance fees. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 plus deposit checks with mobile deposit. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and manage your cash and investments tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 with schwab's mobile app. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 no wonder schwab bank has grown to over 70 billion in assets. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so if you're looking for a bank that's in your corner, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 not just on the corner... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 call, click or visit to start banking with schwab bank today. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550
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our second story "outfront," fighting gun violence. joe biden met with his new task force and here was the message. >> we will act and we will act in a way that is designed, even if we can only save one life. we have to take action. >> but how the administration will act is still in question. meanwhile, nra president pierre will publicly address the newtown tragedy tomorrow. it is the first time the nra has addressed it. when you say why has it taken this long, this is a dramatic
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shift for the nra overall. they have remained silent following other mass shootings. "outfront" tonight, james carville, and the writer for the national review. good to see both of you. james, let me start with you with the number. the nra spent $240 million in 2010. $17 million this election alone backing candidates that would support nra positions. in 2009, the nra pushed through laws relaxing the ability to carry guns on amtrak. i will admit i don't understand the need for that at all and new laws relaxing gun bans in national parks. what can we expect the nra to go along with? >> in louisiana they pushed a law to allow people to carry guns in churches. the bishop put the stop to that. look, they're very powerful group. no question about it. and they put a lot of stuff through and a lot of people not just the congress but state legislators are mortified for these guys and for good reason. they send out a lot of mail and people follow them.
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i think the vice president was instrumental in passing the assault weapon ban before. he knows this. he is a good man to head up this task force but he will be in for a heck of a fight them play pretty tough. it is not an easy thing to get done here. >> what should the nra say? he is coming out and talking tomorrow. is it safe to assume he will say look, we do support some kind of change. some thing should be banned. >> my personal view is that the nra would be very smart to talk about gun trafficking. we have a huge problem that is tied to the fact about 1% of gun dealers who account for a very huge proportion. some say half of the guns that are used in violent crime in this country. and part of the problem is what is referred to as the private sales loophole. the thing is that we try on legislate around big tragedies like this. in the assault weapons ban wouldn't have stopped something like this. even a limit on magazine
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capacity wouldn't have stopped something like this. we have a huge problem with gun deaths in this country and there are a the love smart step we could take like addressing that private sales loophole. that would make a real difference. >> we all know, at least from what the connecticut police chief that, adam lanza had enough bullets to kill every child in that school. maybe that was his intent. it seems that it was. i'm curious about this whole task forceful it is great to have a task force but there are three things john avalon reported they could do now. we haven't had an atf director in six years. apparently only .1 of 1% of people who lie on their background checks. of course the ban on assault weapons. why doesn't the president just do that now in. >> i think that the ban on the assault weapons, i think it legislatively expired in 2004. pass in the 1994. i don't know. other things seem like good ideas to me.
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i think there are two problems in this country. there are too many high magazine assault weapons and too many crazy people. and we ought to reduce both of them. we need fewer crazy people and fewer, you know, 30-clip, 30-round magazines in this country. and look, i own guns. i know a lot of my friends do. some of this stuff is kind of absurd. and i think it makes a very good point. the gun show loophole. some little loophole slips through and more crazy people get these things. i'm for doing something about mental health and these high ammo magazines. >> both of them are two crucial parts of the problem and both involved in what happened last friday. after the shooting of gab reel giffords, limit magazines is a good idea. that was not enacted.
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who fights for that? >> one of the fundamental issues, there are a lot of folks in this country, democrats and republican who's believe very strongly that there is an individual right to bear arms. when you're at limits on magazines, the last time we had a limit on magazine capacity was about ten rounds. the most popular firearm in the country, the glock handgun has about 17 rounds in the chamber. and i think a lot of people are questioning whether or not limiting magazine capacity is appropriate when this handgun that is used by many people for self-defense and other legitimate purposes would be so heavily impacted by it. i understand the desire to limit magazine capacity but i think it will be a tough thing. wait a second. i use my firearm for legitimate purposes and i think it is perfectly appropriate to have 17 rounds in my chamber. >> james? >> yeah. i have no idea why he needs 17 rounds in your chamber. have you got a handgun? i've got six. what are you going to do with 17? that's an argument they can make and not make.
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but the point is that this thing is going to be, they're in for a tough slog. what the vice president said, now the commission will come back in january and make some recommendations. there is no doubt, the only thing i would say, erin, this one felt different. we've gone through these things in colorado, the gabby giffords thing. this feels different to me. and i think the fact that the nra has been silent for so long is a signal it feels different to them. i think this changed the ground underneath as you little bit. whether or not it is sufficient to do something, i have no idea. >> there is just one thing i want to add. james earlier on said there are two pieces to this. part of it is an underlying violence problem. you have a lot of mental illness, a lot of anger. we are a more violent country than other countries where you have high rates of ownership. that's an unfortunate fact. the other thing i think we need to understand is that the technology for spreading
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violence is the real underlying issue. think about the way we think about terrorism. a super empowered dangerous individual is a lot more dangerous now than a super empowered individual was 60 years ago. and the technology for people to create their own guns is frighteningly close at hand. so a lot of this is fighting the last battle. the truth is the capacity for deadly violence is very widespread. in the form of firearms or some other weapons. >> we'll leave it there. a thought for our viewers, think about what happened in china last week right when this happened. 23 children were stabbed in a school and they lived. it was a knife and not a gun. it probably would have ended differently if it had been a gun like in connecticut. ahead a blizzard threatens to ryan holiday travel plans for thousands. plus the hot seat on capitol hill. officials making promises. [ female announcer ] research suggests cell health
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our third story "outfront,"
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a major snowstorm paralyzing holiday travel. there has been near blizzard conditions already in chicago. half a foot of snow forecast and the timing coming be worse. tomorrow will be the worst day of the holiday season. karen mcginnis is out front. what's the latest on the storm and is it going to move east in. >> it is going to be moving east and this powerful area of low pressure is now centered just over the lower great lakes. it is moving fairly quickly now toward the east. so by tomorrow, it will be centered across the northeastern region with lots of wind being reported. but in chicago, it has been 290 days since they have seen significant snowfall. and now the snow has started to move in. when it is all said and done, it looks like chicago, some of the suburbs could see about a half a foot of snowfall with some winds, gusting up to as high as 60 miles an hour. i wanted to show you some pictures coming out of beaver dam in wisconsin. to the northwest of milwaukee.
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they reported 14.5 inches of snowfall and very treacherous driving conditions. winds gusting to 60 miles an hour. then we talk about chicago. right now, chicago, light snow, fog, reduced visibility. very misty weather conditions being reported there. but also, the wind coming out of the west and northwest gusting up to around 40 miles an hour right now. in green bay, we were at images all week out of green bay where visibility was maybe 100 feet. but it was fairly low. you can see them trying to clear off the roadways. and in iowa, lots of i-reports coming out of iowa area. des moines, ames, iowa. they had a 30-car pileup there and reports out of chicago, o'hare and midway saying hundreds of flights canceled already because the conditions there are just deteriorated so fiercely. and not just there. across the southeast we saw
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damaging winds and a possible tornado in mobile, alabama. >> karen, thank you very much. obviously, very bad timing for that for so many. still "outfront," breaking news. we'll take to you capitol hill. some late developments as republican at this inassistants are scrambling to get enough votes. let's say you want to get ahead in your career. how do you get from here... to here? at university of phoenix we're moving career planning forward so you can start figuring that out sooner. ln fact, by thinking about where want your education to lead, while you're still in school, you might find the best route... leads somewhere you weren't even looking. let's get to work.
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welcome back to the second half of "outfront." we start with some other stories we're following with our reporting from the front lines. we begin with the state department. official testified today about the september 11th attack on the american consulate in benghazi. four americans were killed that night including ambassador chris stevens. speaking to the senate foreign relations commit year, deputy secretary of state william burns vowed to do more to ensure safety. >> we learned some very hard and painful lessons in benghazi. we are already acting on them. we have to do better. we owe it to our colleagues who lost their lives in benghazi. we owe it to the professional who's acted with such heroism that night to try to protect
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them and we owe it to thousands of our colleagues serving america every day in diplomatic posts around the world. >> why did you see nicholas burns there? that's because hillary clinton was not there. she was notably absent. she was supposed to be the one testifying. she was not there because she's recovering from an illness. she is expected to discuss the attack next month before the house foreign affairs committee. the united nations security council approved a resolution to send an african led force to help oust the rebels who have taken over the northern part of the country. the resolution authorizes the military force to use all necessary measures to help the government retake the north. meanwhile tonight, we are learning president obama is stripping mali of certain trade privileges. a very tough time to do it but he's doing it because there has been a decline in democracy. the economy, ours, that is, grew faster than anybody thought in its final estimate. the u.s. economy grew by 3.1%. that probably sounds big to you.
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i hope it does because it is relative to where we've been. it was 1.3 in the second quarter. that better than expected number is because of increased spending by consumers. the biggest ponzi scheme in history. that was the maximum sentence he faced because he had a plea deal with prosecutors. he admitted to conspiracy, falsifying documents and lying to clients. his brother bernie is serving a 150-year sentence in a north carolina prison. it has been 504 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. i'm getting tired of this segment. i would like to it change but i'm not very hopeful given what is happening in washington. a lot of clown action down there. there was some good news on housing. sales of existing home hit a high, the best we've seen in three years in november. now our fourth story "outfront." we have news. a scram when for votes on the hill. the house was expected to vote actually right now. we were expecting to have
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breaking news that vote was coming in. it would be on speaker john boehner's plan to allow tax to go up on people who make over $1 million a year. but now that vote is in danger because it appears republicans are struggling to find the votes they need. the votes that they thought they had in the can to pass the bill. dana bash is our senior congressional correspondent. how did this unravel? how significant is this development that the speaker thought he had the votes and he doesn't seem to. >> reporter: it is very significant. if you can see over my shoulder, that is house speaker's office. a few moments ago, the house majority leader and other members of the leadership race in the there after they did something which is always a bad sign when you are the majority of the house. they recessed the house, subject to the call of the chair. that is effectively a pause button while they figure out what to do. not just that. moments ago they called a meeting in about 15 minutes of all house republicans. as a last-ditch effort clearly for the speaker and other members of the leadership to
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convince them. >> why the speaker wanted this vote was for republicans to be able to show that they are not going to let taxes go up for the majority of americans. this as you said, this bill would leave tax cuts where they are for anyone making under $1 million. if they have to pull this or if this fails, that would be such a black eye, frankly, on the speaker. it would be very, very bad for him. so that is why they're absolutely scrambling right now. all day it was pretty clear and erin, i have to tell you. i was out on the house floor watching the speaker's deputies walk around looking for votes. they've been doing it all day long really trying to twist arms and i've been talking to people in the hallways here. members of the hour, republicans, some of whom are in leadership positions saying they're not sure if they're
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going to vote for it yet. >> why is that? more like the president's plan where you would increase the taxes on people $400,000 or more? are they going into the president's camp? are they mad because the speaker is willing to raise taxes at all in. >> the latter. i'm glad you asked me the question. it is an important thing to point out. for the most part, they do not believe that any taxes should be raised, even for those who are millionaires and above. those are some reasons. other people who i've talk to, other republicans say that they don't want to vote on this. they want to vote on a bigger plan that deals with spending cuts and entitlements and so forth. a bad sign just happened maybe in the past hour. one of the things that republicans did to try to lure reluctant republicans was they just voted on a package of spending cuts. that was a way to sort of mollify about voting for any tax increases. that barely passed.
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that was definitely a bad sign for the president in the bigger negotiations. of just exactly where the republican caucus is. if they're not going for it, tax increases for millionaires, it is pretty clear that it will be hard to get anything in between where the president is, incomes of $400,000, and a million dollars. >> so just a quick final question. i want to bring in our panel. what is the bottom line? does this mean we're going off the cliff in your best estimate? >> reporter: i wish i could answer that question. we'll see what happens after this meeting. we'll see if they decide that they're going to take the vote tonight or pull the vote. it still could mean that the speaker could go back and have conversations with the president and try to come up with a plan where they could get a majority of democrats to vote. one reason why republicans are having a big problem here is because no democrats are voting with them. they have to get a majority of
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the votes from republicans and again, many within their own caucus are very reluctant to vote for any tax increases and democrats are standing back saying we won't help you. they think this is just a show vote. >> thanks very much, dana. i appreciate it. let's bring in the former director of the comingal office. professor from new york university stern school of business and john avalon, columnist for the daily beast. great to see all of you. you heard her say this is a huge black eye for john boehner. he comes in and says tax increases for those over a million. i've made a deal with the president. you should be excited about this deal and they're saying no way, buddy. that's not enough. we don't want any taxes. >> the speaker has been guided by some very simple principles. principle number one, he does be want to go over the tax cliff and he believes that. it is a threat and it would mean a recession. number one, let's keep taxes as low for as many americans as we
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can. and he has put forth a bill that does that. the third thing he stuck to again and again with the president, give me something that i can pass. it is fine for you you to posture, it can't get through the house of representatives. he is showing that to that. >> what happens now? do we go off the cliff? if the problem is republicans don't want to vote for any tax increases at all. there won't be anything that democrats will vote for that republicans will vote for. i'm stating the facts here. >> but keep in mind of remember the whole debt ceiling debacle? ultimately we pass ad feel about the far right of the republican didn't support, the far left of the democratic didn't support but the majority did. they met in the middle. that's what will make us not go over this cliff. what is significant, plan b was always d.o.a. it wasn't getting through the senate. president obama was going to viet on it. the question is whether or not this kabuki theater. it is actually just that.
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a kabuki or whether it is a sign of a real crisis in the fiscal cliff negotiations on. monday the administration and the speaker were pretty close. they've been getting more and more skeptical every day since. this points to the fact that boehner and pelosi and obama will have to meet in the middle or we will go over the cliff. >> where is the middle? if boehner said my biggest compromise will be a million and the president said 400. >> i don't think it is tax increases for the rich folks. i think bits changes to the whole tax code themselves want other changes in spending them want to wrap this whole thing up together. the problem is markets wanted this solved yesterday. consumers want it solved. it is creating the uncertainty that boehner is always complaining about. >> doug, let me ask you. >> go ahead. >> one thing that i think is good to recognize, there are two different problems. problem number one sf st fiscal cliff. that says keep taxes down and
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avoid spending cuts. problem two is the enormous debt. we have to get some tax and spending cuts together. and they're trying to weave them together and as they do it, they both gain and lose pieces of the coalition. it is just too hard a problem to be done in a short amount of time. i think in the end, john has it right. there will be some kabuki. a deal made at the last minute. a small deal that avoids the greatest damage from the fiscal cliff and we'll be back in the spring for the real tough negotiations that daniel mentioned. which is entitlement reform. >> here's what i'm worried about. the deal will be something like this. taxes get extended for a bunch of people and not the wealthy. and we promise to make some spending cuts down the road. the problem is they won't really happen. how is that deal good for anybody. >> that's not a good deal and that's history. history will be we don't get the spending cuts. that's why negotiations broke down. the president has not put on the table fundamental entitlement reforms. the kinds of things that they
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can commit to, believe and would change the trajectory of the debt. thats the most important part of this debate. if you look at any of the debt commissions, whether it is bowls simpson or private sector, they're about 3-1. we're not close to solving the real problem. >> the real priority here is two things. first, don't go over the fiscal cliff. it would be calam towson. the president and speaker have been working toward the $2 trillion plan. the fact that the president has said he would deal with social security, that's not nothing. that will anger the democratic base. likewise, i think we all realize now the speaker is giving on rates. maybe it is at $500,000. some deal is better than none. the course of the folks on the right and left saying no deal is better than a bad deal. those are the people putting our country in peril. >> 2 trillion may sound like a
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lot but it is a drop in the bucket. they're saying we need something around 16 trillion. if we can't do this little 600 billion, that is pathetic. next, examining the mind of a killer. dr. james fallon has spent decades. he's been studying brain scans and says he has found a apparent of people who commit horrific acts. we'll look at those scans. that's "outfront" next. plus, new tensions between the united states and russia. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. in what world do potatoes, bacon and cheese add up to 100 calories? your world.
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and find an arthritis treatment for you. visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. around the world with and we begin in russia where lawmakers are considering letting people adopt children. over 45,000 american adoptions have come from russia sew a ban would ignite already growing tensions between the two countries. matthew is following the story and i asked him where vladimir putin stands on this politically charged issue. >> it would be a piece of aggressively anti-american legislation. if this bill is signed into law, it would essentially kill the homes of thousands of american couples trying to adopt a russian child.
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russian president vladimir putin has defended the proposed ban on u.s. adoptions saying it is appropriate. russian officials are not permitted to sit in on u.s. cases involving the mistreatment of russian children. there have of course been a number of deaths of kids adopted from russia by u.s. family which has alarmed the russian public. the threat of a ban is also being seen as a response to the u.s. act, a recent law barring entry to russians accused of human rights violations. all part of those growing tensions between washington and moscow. erin? >> thanks very much. now let's check in with anderson with a look at what's coming up. >> tomorrow will be a dave mourning officially in connecticut, unofficially across the country. the one-week anniversary of those who loved lost ones. today there were six more funerals. we're honoring the lives of those lost and their memories ahead on the program. we'll tell you who was buried today. you'll also hear from the family
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of vicki soto, her mom, her two sisters and her brother share the stories of how her heroism saved the lives of her young students that day. and unthinkable. people capitalizing on the tragedy. there are some sickening scams going on right now. people trying to raise donations in the victims' names. fraudulent websites, asking for money. we'll speak with the attorney general about what he can do to shut those sites down. also the first big blizzard of the year. roads closed, tens of thousands without power across the midwest. we'll tell you how the storm could disrupt travelers in the days ahead. a lot more ahead. now our fifth story "outfront." the mind of a killer. adam lanza left few clues for investigators as to yes went on a shooting spree, killing 27 people last friday. now a geneticist has been joined to the investigation to try to determine if biology played a role. it is hard to imagine anything else. all of us sit here and try to
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think about how a human being, even an insane human being could kill innocent children. so a big question is this: are certain people predestined to kill? dr. jim fallon has been studying the brains of murderers for close to 20 years. he joins me now. i appreciate you taking the time of you have studied this exhaustively and you gave us some brain scans. i'm going to put them up for our viewers so we can show people what they're talking about. the differences are pretty stark. as you see on the left, two normal brains. then look at the brains on the right.psychopathic pattern. what are we at? >> we're looking at three different people. two normal on the you said, twoe on the left. the red or yellow colors means that these are higher or higher than the psychopath and wherever you see the blues, the dark colors, that means it's lower
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than normal. and what you see in the psychopath in these p.e.t. scans and other types of imaging scans, what you see is part of the frontal lobe turning off and also part of the temporal lobe shutting off. and these regulate behavior. they integrate emotion and ethics and morality. and these do not seem to be connective in working in a psychopath's brain. >> so when you say lower than normal, you're talking about lower than normal morals, ethics, these are things that you can see? >> what we're seeing in these scans are the relative amount of activity. this amount of glucose, in this case, the amount of activity. and so where you see a dark color, that part of the brain is not working at all and it should be compared to a normal brain. well, those areas in the connections are correlated with certain functions of the brain. so we make that association.
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and we can't look in and see ethics but we know that people with this problem, with this turning off of these brain areas do not regulate their emotions, they do not really have a sense of morality. >> which is fascinating that you've identified where that comes from. i want to, again, show those pictures. many people who have psychopathic-patterns. >> that's correct. you can have these kbrars turned off because of certain combinations of genes. these are genes that have to do with usually with sarah tone anyone, dopamine that really regulate behavior. so some people who have inherited these, it turns off these brain areas and these people can be kind of party people but they tend to be i am
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pull sif and they can be manipulative but it doesn't make them criminals and necessarily psychopath. >> what i'm saying, while killers may have that brain, the actual brain that we're looking at on that screen is your brain. the psychopathic brain is you, right? >> yeah. as it turns out, this was quite a surprise recently because i had studied so many and it caught me by surprise that that pattern that i had looked at and seen in all of the killers and all of the psychopaths, i had the exact same pattern. >> which is incredible and does show that even though, again, people who kill may have that brain and people who have that brain may not kill. do you expect that we will see that on adam lanza? >> well, i don't know if we have access to the imaging. these are in a live person. so that possibility is gone. probably what will happen is that the genes will be looked at and the combination of the genes. not just one like warrior gene but things having to do with
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empathy, things having to do with regulation of emotion. if these are looked at, this could give a hint. again, be there are some people who have combinations that give very low empathy, they are very aggressive but they are not kill canners and psychopaths. they just have those traits. >> dr. fallon, thank you very much. prit fee amazing thing to learn. next, the future of the lit tral place, sandy hook elementary. you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see, cause c-max also beats prius v, with better mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid. ♪
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when the children of sandy hook elementary return to school on january 2nd, they are going to be going to school in the chalk hill elementary school in nearby monroe, connecticut. today, chalk hill officials asked the media to stay away when classes resume to protect the children. that's the right thing to do. we're going to do it. we can't imagine how hard it will be for those children to return to school and we wondered whether they are going to want to return to their own school building in the future or not. people i spoke to in newtown felt that the school should be demolished and rebuilt. on tuesday we met rod, a long-time newtown resident whose 4-year-old is set to april tend sandy elementary school next year. >> so do you want him to go there? >> without hesitation.
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they are going as long as the school is going to remain open. we want it to remain open. some people may not. everybody has their perspective. maybe if it's bull doze and rebuilt, we just love sandy hook. it's a little nook of newtown and we would love for the kids to stay in that school. >> they love the school but raising that question of whether it should be bulldozed and rebuilt, it's a question that a lot of people of newtown are asking right now. i also spoke to a local businessman, the owner of pub 25 in newtown. he plans on holding a fund-raiser to build a new school. >> they can't go back in that building. so we've been in contact with the town in just trying to put it together when the time is right. >> it's clear that not everyone who experiences this is going to feel the same way. after the shooting at columbine high school in 1999, the library